avoid warning
diff --git a/regress/netcat.c b/regress/netcat.c
index f8fc7ee..6be6e05 100644
--- a/regress/netcat.c
+++ b/regress/netcat.c
@@ -1471,7 +1471,7 @@
     int socksv, const char *proxyuser)
 {
 	int proxyfd, r, authretry = 0;
-	size_t hlen, wlen;
+	size_t hlen, wlen = 0;
 	unsigned char buf[1024];
 	size_t cnt;
 	struct sockaddr_storage addr;